THE NHS

Once again, patients in England are having to accept second rate NHS treatment due to the penny-pinching bureaucratic procedures of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which is responsible for the rationing of drugs.

This time it is the treatment of cancer patients that is affected.

Xeloda, a new and actually cheaper drug is being denied to bowel cancer patients despite being cheaper and easier to administer than the existing drugs. Xeloda can be taken orally and has been shown to be very effective in dealing with the early stages of the disease.

NICE is refusing to even consider approving the drug until next year. This is despite the fact that the drug has already been approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium and is already in use in Scotland.

This is yet another example of “I’m All Right, Jock”.

Up to 7,000 patients are likely to be affected in the next year. The extra cost of using existing intravenous treatment is estimated to be roughly £22million.

NICE is already mired in controversy regarding its attempt to withhold drugs for Alzheimer’s patients and a new breast cancer drug.